...up in arms about the monopoly that Microsoft has when absolutely NOTHING is being done about broadband ISPs, phone companies, oil companies (well we all know the answer to that one) and the RIAA/MPAA? Well personally I'm pretty PO'd about those things as well. It's just that this article is about MS.
I read Cory Doctorow's response. It was very insightful, intelligent and on point. There was a slight caustic edge to it but I think that's understandable in this case...
I would like to think that this little incident will be a wake up call to these consortium types who go so overboard in "protecting their consituents" but I'm going to take a I'll beleive it when I see it attitude for now.
I hope someone does go after them for this though, if nothing else to add one more precedent to the "frivolous use of DMCA notices" body of law.
The few HP laptops and tablets we've bought for work recently came with a) a recovery partition on the hard disk and b) a method on the desktop for creating recovery disks quickly and easily. So other then the few bucks for the media that you buy they basically are providing recovery disks. Arguably that's still less then they used to but I personally don't mind the hard drive recovery method (it's usually quick/painless) and making a couple of CDs for that extra piece of mind isn't really a big deal. The way my company refreshes these machines every three years usually makes the need for anything but the hard drive recovery largely unnecessary.
On the other hand the laptop with Ubuntu (personal use) I got from LinuxCertified actually did come with recovery disks. But I pulled Ubuntu off and put Debian on it so they were basically useless to me, other then the novelty of getting Linux disks from a PC vendor.
It means there is only one more service pack to go before I might consider thinking about adopting it. Yep, and then after that it will be time to upgrade again, er, I mean wait for the second service pack for their next OS to come out that is.
Mr. White's assertions aside, IMHO, MS is releasing this service pack as early as possible to entice people into believing Vista is "ready". The practice in the industry to wait for the first few updates is to firmly entrenched for them to simply "write it off".
And in my experience, lest my FOSS bias shine through, the idea of waiting for the first few updates goes for most software, not just Windows or other MS software.
I'm not going to argue your movie/burger analogy (+1 for originialty though!). However I would like to point out that MS did issue a concerning the GPL3 which is what prompted the response from the FSF.
And sure, maybe "most people" was over stating it a bit. How about - "enough people, including the FSF, feel differently". Of course you are right in that it will ultimately be up to a judge to decide whether or not MS's partnership with Novell and the voucher distribution constitutes software distribution.
IIRC the GPL3 would apply to MS as soon as someone redeems a SUSE voucher that they received from MS. MS would argue that merely giving out the vouchers is not distribution but most people (the FSF included) see it differently.
I'm not sure if that holds true or not (IANAL, etc.) but it should be interesting to see how this plays out. MS is obviously at least slightly worried or they wouldn't have issued the PR in the first place.
Know of any libraries with pay-per-use CD recorders for the public? No, but there is nothing stopping someone from borrowing a CD or ten and copying them at home. Not saying it's right or that libraries shouldn't be an exception to copyright law but it's not like they go out of their way to prevent people from infringing copyright on borrowed material.
So, with regards to a library I'd say there really isn't that much difference between books and music.
Well then I'm one to talk because I also use it a lot but was too lazy to go look up any dates as to when it's various completion features were added.:-)
Cell phone input (T9 & iTap circa 1995) PDA writing interfaces (Newton?) Shell command line completion. (bash, ksh) Visual Studio 6... Emacs Windows 3.1 tablet edition Automatic spell checking correction ( MS word 95, possibly before) I couldn't help but notice your subtle attempt to start a flame war by failing to mention vi!
Haven't Vi, Emacs, heck even Visual Studio's Editor had the ability to autocomplete or provide a list of predicted completions for years before 2000?
I'm not sure when the code completion based on language syntax became available in any of these but I could swear that even older vi/vi clones have had the word mapping and completion functions for a long time. And when was auto complete added to the bash/c/korn shells?
I'm too busy to go check dates at the moment but I agree that there is absolutely a ton of prior art on this one.
I'm having more and more problems every day remembering most anything...and I have GREAT things I wanna remember. Short term is even worse.... I suggest you smoke less weed. Unfortunately though you'll probably have less GREAT things you want to remember once you do.:-)
I would add that in these wonderful days of Tivo/DVR I don't even have to get up and do something else or change the channel while I watch TV, I can just skip the ads all together.
That said, as others have mentioned about blocking web ads, if an ad is interesting or not terribly obtrusive anyway, I don't automatically skip it. Heck, I even find myself rewinding to catch an ad if it looked funny/interesting or was about a company I like.
Or how about when people noticed that their TV volume seemed to jump around a lot, with an ad that comes on suddenly sounding much, much louder then the actual program. TV makers responded by offering volume normalization on TVs. Should this be illegal as well? After all it defeats a "feature" of the ad's ability to attract your attention.
As long as advertising does it best to be "in your face" all the time, 24/7, people are going to try to avoid them. If advertisers can be so aggresive as to try to trick you into clicking an ad, circumventing pop up blockers or worse installing spyware then the consumer market has every right to be aggresive in taking steps to block them.
Hmm... perhaps, just perhaps, this could have been avoidable by a stable binary interface in the kernel... no, I would say it would be more than likely. Or, even better IMHO, they could of spent a couple of hundred US$ on getting new NICs that used open source drivers.
As an aside, would "classic" UNIX actually be useful on modern x86-based hardware? This is probably not what you meant but I would say that, yes, it would indeed be useful to a lot of people to have access to the source code for classic Unix (Classix?:-). It may not run as is on x86 but I'm sure a lot of code could be ported or at least used as a starting point for many useful things...
While I'm not saying I'm "Mr. Backup" I do feel pretty good about my backup procedures over Google's for now. Remeber this little event? Now to be fair they worked hard with people and admitted responsibilty right up front but in the end there was data that they simpy could not recover.
The only advantage here over doing it yourself that I can see is the geographic seperation between yuo and your backups. If your building burns down but all the backup tapes are in the office then you're screwed. Smarter plans include taking the backups offsite but for personal data that's a pain.
If I were to use this at all it would be in conjunction with my own personal backup and storage plan. The google storage would be relegated to the status of safety net. Without bothering to link to any for now I would guess that there are cheaper solutions out there for this scenario.
Hmm, your quote looks familiar. Ah right, it's the first paragraph on the Debian home page...
Here's the whole thing for anyone who doesn't feel like visiting the site:
What is Debian?
Debian is a free operating system (OS) for your computer. An operating system is the set of basic programs and utilities that make your computer run. Debian uses the Linux kernel (the core of an operating system), but most of the basic OS tools come from the GNU project; hence the name GNU/Linux.
Debian GNU/Linux provides more than a pure OS: it comes with over 18733 packages, precompiled software bundled up in a nice format for easy installation on your machine. But if you want to refer to Debian GNU/Linux as just Linux, that's OK, I won't hold it against you. Anymore then I would be upset with you telling me you run Hurd, instead of Debain GNU/Hurd.
The examples I've seen of this don't have an attachment. It's a "click here! to view your postcard!" link in the email. Clikcing the link takes you to a site that says something like "We're trying a new feature on our site, please click here if you do not see your postcard". This link is then to an executable which of course prompts you to download or run. It seems to me you'd have to be pretty naive or just plain stupid to click through to the point of infection but I'm guessing a lot of people do...
For me the biggest problem with these is that there is no attachment for AV to pick off and there is hardly any text and no real advertising in the email so our spam filters don't block it either.
I mainly continue to call my OS GNU/Linux because I use Debian and that's what they call it.
I agree that everyone calling there OS "Linux/A Little KDE/Some X/And, of course a lot of GNU!" would be rediculous but if a distro (like Debian) specifically brands there product GNU/Linux then that's what it's called, love it or hate it.
Taking offense at my simple take on this matter seems pretty stupid to me... Conversely I don't worry if someone calls a Debian distro "Linux". I may silently correct them in my head, but it doesn't bother me:-)
Slashdot Mirror
...up in arms about the monopoly that Microsoft has when absolutely NOTHING is being done about broadband ISPs, phone companies, oil companies (well we all know the answer to that one) and the RIAA/MPAA? Well personally I'm pretty PO'd about those things as well. It's just that this article is about MS.I read Cory Doctorow's response. It was very insightful, intelligent and on point. There was a slight caustic edge to it but I think that's understandable in this case...
I would like to think that this little incident will be a wake up call to these consortium types who go so overboard in "protecting their consituents" but I'm going to take a I'll beleive it when I see it attitude for now.
I hope someone does go after them for this though, if nothing else to add one more precedent to the "frivolous use of DMCA notices" body of law.
The few HP laptops and tablets we've bought for work recently came with a) a recovery partition on the hard disk and b) a method on the desktop for creating recovery disks quickly and easily. So other then the few bucks for the media that you buy they basically are providing recovery disks. Arguably that's still less then they used to but I personally don't mind the hard drive recovery method (it's usually quick/painless) and making a couple of CDs for that extra piece of mind isn't really a big deal. The way my company refreshes these machines every three years usually makes the need for anything but the hard drive recovery largely unnecessary.
On the other hand the laptop with Ubuntu (personal use) I got from LinuxCertified actually did come with recovery disks. But I pulled Ubuntu off and put Debian on it so they were basically useless to me, other then the novelty of getting Linux disks from a PC vendor.
Mr. White's assertions aside, IMHO, MS is releasing this service pack as early as possible to entice people into believing Vista is "ready". The practice in the industry to wait for the first few updates is to firmly entrenched for them to simply "write it off".
And in my experience, lest my FOSS bias shine through, the idea of waiting for the first few updates goes for most software, not just Windows or other MS software.
I'm not going to argue your movie/burger analogy (+1 for originialty though!). However I would like to point out that MS did issue a concerning the GPL3 which is what prompted the response from the FSF.
And sure, maybe "most people" was over stating it a bit. How about - "enough people, including the FSF, feel differently". Of course you are right in that it will ultimately be up to a judge to decide whether or not MS's partnership with Novell and the voucher distribution constitutes software distribution.
IIRC the GPL3 would apply to MS as soon as someone redeems a SUSE voucher that they received from MS. MS would argue that merely giving out the vouchers is not distribution but most people (the FSF included) see it differently.
I'm not sure if that holds true or not (IANAL, etc.) but it should be interesting to see how this plays out. MS is obviously at least slightly worried or they wouldn't have issued the PR in the first place.
So, with regards to a library I'd say there really isn't that much difference between books and music.
Well then I'm one to talk because I also use it a lot but was too lazy to go look up any dates as to when it's :-)
various completion features were added.
PDA writing interfaces (Newton?)
Shell command line completion. (bash, ksh)
Visual Studio 6...
Emacs
Windows 3.1 tablet edition
Automatic spell checking correction ( MS word 95, possibly before) I couldn't help but notice your subtle attempt to start a flame war by failing to mention vi!
Haven't Vi, Emacs, heck even Visual Studio's Editor had the ability to autocomplete or provide a list of predicted completions for years before 2000?
I'm not sure when the code completion based on language syntax became available in any of these but I could swear that even older vi/vi clones have had the word mapping and completion functions for a long time. And when was auto complete added to the bash/c/korn shells?
I'm too busy to go check dates at the moment but I agree that there is absolutely a ton of prior art on this one.
Sure, he's a troll, but he's a benevolent troll. ;-)
I'm having more and more problems every day remembering most anything...and I have GREAT things I wanna remember. Short term is even worse.... I suggest you smoke less weed. Unfortunately though you'll probably have less GREAT things you want to remember once you do.
I would add that in these wonderful days of Tivo/DVR I don't even have to get up and do something else or change the channel while I watch TV, I can just skip the ads all together.
That said, as others have mentioned about blocking web ads, if an ad is interesting or not terribly obtrusive anyway, I don't automatically skip it. Heck, I even find myself rewinding to catch an ad if it looked funny/interesting or was about a company I like.
Or how about when people noticed that their TV volume seemed to jump around a lot, with an ad that comes on suddenly sounding much, much louder then the actual program. TV makers responded by offering volume normalization on TVs. Should this be illegal as well? After all it defeats a "feature" of the ad's ability to attract your attention.
As long as advertising does it best to be "in your face" all the time, 24/7, people are going to try to avoid them. If advertisers can be so aggresive as to try to trick you into clicking an ad, circumventing pop up blockers or worse installing spyware then the consumer market has every right to be aggresive in taking steps to block them.
Gals? Didn't you read his post, these aren't just geeks. These are geeks in Utah!
Hey, I yam whats me yams and that's all that me yams.
This is just a transitional feature designed to make Windows users more comfortable using Ubuntu.
While I'm not saying I'm "Mr. Backup" I do feel pretty good about my backup procedures over Google's for now. Remeber this little event? Now to be fair they worked hard with people and admitted responsibilty right up front but in the end there was data that they simpy could not recover.
The only advantage here over doing it yourself that I can see is the geographic seperation between yuo and your backups. If your building burns down but all the backup tapes are in the office then you're screwed. Smarter plans include taking the backups offsite but for personal data that's a pain.
If I were to use this at all it would be in conjunction with my own personal backup and storage plan. The google storage would be relegated to the status of safety net. Without bothering to link to any for now I would guess that there are cheaper solutions out there for this scenario.
Here's the whole thing for anyone who doesn't feel like visiting the site: What is Debian?
Debian is a free operating system (OS) for your computer. An operating system is the set of basic programs and utilities that make your computer run. Debian uses the Linux kernel (the core of an operating system), but most of the basic OS tools come from the GNU project; hence the name GNU/Linux.
Debian GNU/Linux provides more than a pure OS: it comes with over 18733 packages, precompiled software bundled up in a nice format for easy installation on your machine. But if you want to refer to Debian GNU/Linux as just Linux, that's OK, I won't hold it against you. Anymore then I would be upset with you telling me you run Hurd, instead of Debain GNU/Hurd.
The examples I've seen of this don't have an attachment. It's a "click here! to view your postcard!" link in the email. Clikcing the link takes you to a site that says something like "We're trying a new feature on our site, please click here if you do not see your postcard". This link is then to an executable which of course prompts you to download or run. It seems to me you'd have to be pretty naive or just plain stupid to click through to the point of infection but I'm guessing a lot of people do...
For me the biggest problem with these is that there is no attachment for AV to pick off and there is hardly any text and no real advertising in the email so our spam filters don't block it either.
I mainly continue to call my OS GNU/Linux because I use Debian and that's what they call it.
:-)
I agree that everyone calling there OS "Linux/A Little KDE/Some X/And, of course a lot of GNU!" would be rediculous but if a distro (like Debian) specifically brands there product GNU/Linux then that's what it's called, love it or hate it.
Taking offense at my simple take on this matter seems pretty stupid to me... Conversely I don't worry if someone calls a Debian distro "Linux". I may silently correct them in my head, but it doesn't bother me
Ah, those were the good old days! Go again?